Meme token BOB slumps after Elon Musk warns of fraud

Twitter blocked the account of the popular AI bot Explain This Bob, linked to the meme cryptocurrency, after Elon Musk’s fraud claim.

This sure looks like a scam crypto account. If so, it will be suspended.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2023

On June 18, the billionaire said that Bob is likely a \”crypto-scam account\”. The account was subsequently blocked.

The bot’s profile had more than 400,000 followers. The project was created by Indian programmer Prabhu Biswal and used the OpenAI GPT-4 model to respond to tweets.

The bot has its own ERC-20 token — Bob Token (BOB). According to CoinGecko, after the account was suspended the coin’s price fell by more than 30%.

In April, Musk expressed the opposite view about the bot, saying he loves it. The project’s team used this post in promotional materials on their site.

I love Bob

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

The bot’s representatives took the issue in stride. They posted an image showing the billionaire watching the token mascot in prison.

#FREEBOB pic.twitter.com/SOUm7opQ7o

— Bob (@BobEthToken) June 18, 2023

The hashtag #FREEBOB (\”Free Bob\”) also spread across social media. Many users argued that the coin was not fraudulent, and that the account suspension was not backed by evidence. One enthusiast pointed to the project’s full decentralization and zero exchange fees for trading the token.

So does @elonmusk plan to provide any proof of $BOB being a scam or are we just expected to take his word for it?

Intrigued to understand what constitutes a scam crypto account @elonmusk?

Renounced contract
0 tax
0 team tokens
Fully decentralised
Fair launched

Can you explain… pic.twitter.com/0U2nuUsyqB

— Crypto Boss (CB) ? (@Cryptoboss2000) June 18, 2023

«Is Elon Musk planning to provide any evidence that BOB is a scam, or are we just to take his word for it? […] Can you explain the difference between BOB and DOGE? And why one coin is a scam and the other isn’t?», he wrote.

Earlier in May, the head of Tesla and SpaceX advised investors not to bet too large on Dogecoin and not to put all their money into the asset. However, he noted that DOGE remains his favourite cryptocurrency.

In the same month, Binance chief Changpeng Zhao said that Musk had ‘prolonged Dogecoin’s life,’ which could have disappeared long ago.